BobKowalski
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 17 May 2007
- Messages
- 21,511
I agree actually. I've always thought he was an oaf and a clown, but not a thick one.
And the few friends I have who live in London, to a man, rated him as Mayor.
He's played the dealt cards better than I could have imagined really. You have to remember he picked an impossible challenge and an unsquarable circle. That he may still get a deal done and even if not now, then pretty soon afterwards, is quite remarkable.
Not that impossible. The EU demanded three things. £39 billion, ECJ jurisdiction over EU citizens in UK for 8 years and no land border in NI. They have all three. According to the various tick-tocks on how this unfolded the key moment was the frank phone call with Merkel. That was when the penny dropped with the Johnson team that the EU wasn’t going to abandon Ireland or fold at the last minute. The phone call was leaked by the Govt in a mood of ‘a deal cannot be done’ which was when Johnson did would May could never do and that’s react quickly. Johnson abandoned his position and pivoted to an earlier version of the deal and do what had to be done as set out by Merkel. Either the entire UK was in the EU customs union or NI was by itself. We cut NI loose.
Unfortunately this decision will have far reaching consequences but that is being ignored in favour of obsessing whether there are enough votes in Parliament to pass this thing or not. Brexit seems to have eroded our capacity to see beyond next week. But that has been the case ever sense we embarked on this nonsense with neither a clue or a plan as to how to process Brexit.